Letter from the Editor-in-Chief

Dear friends,

The question I am asked most often these days is, if you are primarily a digital venture, why call it ThePrint? What is the mission statement of ThePrint, where will it be positioned, what are its objectives, and how will these be achieved?

Let me try answering these.

Conventional wisdom is that the move from staid, old-fashioned newspapering to niftier digital platforms involves a lowering of the editorial bar, a slackening of due diligence. By naming our primarily digital platform ThePrint, we restate our commitment to maintain the highest standards of editorial quality, ethical standards and professionalism.

What is our mission statement?

News media is now polarised between Left and Right, pre-set notions of right or wrong, moral or immoral, for-us or against-us. Journalist-owned ThePrint aims to challenge both, as well as the idea of anodyne neutrality. It will take sharp, well-argued positions.
ThePrint’s is a search for a new, 360-degree liberal space: liberal on society, liberal on the economy. Never lazily polarised, but making up its mind as facts dictate and speaking out emphatically. Let’s put it this way: if the Left calls you Right, the Right calls you Left and both engage with you, it’s a good place to be in journalism.

Where will we be positioned?

If ThePrint has a default position, it’s factual and liberal. Will ThePrint be activist? A reasonable answer is, we’d rather be factivists.

How is ThePrint different?

ThePrint dreams of scale. We are platform agnostic. Digital technology has greatly lowered entry barriers in news media entrepreneurship. It enables us to reach larger and relevant audiences in quick time. We will combine smart use of technology with ground-breaking ideas in editorial thinking.

As we unveil the full range of our products, we look forward to your comments, suggestions and criticism.

ThePrint is your own platform, so please never hesitate to speak your mind.